The selection of the team is not a science and every year it will differ a little based on the coaching staff. We try to hold true to what JP has already posted. What happens every year is that when I select the coaching staff I ask them to come up with a wish list of the players that they would like to see on the team. So in the fall the coaches come to me with a list of players and teams that we would like to approach. Since we do not have a database of all the players, we rely on going to the coaches of those teams to help us get the word out. Some years coaches help us and other years they don't, what is true is that there are some programs that are very supportive of the mission of what USA West does and therefore year after year their players tend to be on the roster. Time and money are the two biggest factors of not being able to go. We try to accommodate players as best we can but in the end we don't have the resources to subsidize players. But with that said it is not a money only factor every year (9 years of trips) we have turned players away because we didn't think that they would be a good fit with the team. As for this year we had a list of close to 50 players that we started with in the fall and for all sorts of reason we paired it down to the team we have now some by us and some by the players. I can say that we did go after a few west coast kids that were playing east coast ball and they could not come with us.

Update from Fukuoka:
Well it has been very wet to say the least. We have played every game in very heavy rain fall, but the spirits of both the Japanese and USA West have been very high. Stat keeping has been hard because of the rain so in a few games they are not complete (assists) and in some impossible to keep any stats.
Day 1 Game 1; USA West vs. Fukuoka
USA West 15 Fukuoka 0
Peter Nelson 2,0
Scott Wishart 2,2
Dave Reinhard 1,0
Jesse Painter 2,0
Nate Goertz 1,0
Casey Mithun 3,2
Brooks Korvin 1,1
Cito Williams 1
Peter Noel 1
Marcus Sylva 1

The guys have played very well despite the rain. They have done a great job possessing the ball and keeping long possessions late in the game. Stats have been spread out because everyone has been getting equal time. The high light of the first two days has been Dave Reinhard who had not lost a face off until late on the first day and has only lost four so far.
On a side note the guys have shown great character and class when on and off the field.
Tomorrow we play the Kyusyu Men's Regional team in the Fukuoka Level Five Stadium. The area's stadium for the professional soccer team. After that we will have five days off.

Sunday June 22nd USA West 18 vs Kyusyu Men's Regional Team 2
Hochman 2,0
Nelson 2,1
Matzek 2,0
Noel 1,0
Goertz 1,0
Wishart 1,1
Mithun 1,3
Korvin 2,0
Painter 1,0
Reinhard 1,0
Schane 2,0
Nesser 1,0
Pitzl 1,1
Williams 0,1
Finally a day with out rain. This was our final game in Fukuoka and we played in front of a crowd of about 2000 in their soccer stadium that hosted the World Cup in 2002. The crowd voted Brian Hochman MVP. Dave Reinhard had another great day facing off, going 16 of 18. Both goalies had some big saves in tight.

As for the stats not being what they were for some players during the season, please remember we have a team of starters and the guys are rotating evenly. There are some guys that a creating wonderfully but aren't getting the individual stats.

Over all it was a great trip. All the guys had a wonderful time and everyone contributed to the team. The D and goalies played great, making the Japanese teams really work hard for goals. The O was well rounded and really came together as a team through out the trip. Our final game was played in front of 2,100 fans.

On this trip we went 10-0 with an 11th game canceled at half time due to rain. On the other two Japan trips I have been a part of there was only one loss to the Japanese National Team in 2002 in a 2 quarter 20min running time game